Henry carries Titans to another comeback win to climb to 5-0

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The magic ride continues for the Tennessee Titans with their improbable 42-36 comeback win over the Houston Texans — in large part thanks to Derrick Henry, who fueled their final drive to get the win in overtime.

To get to overtime, they needed a clutch drive to end regulation. With less than two minutes remaining, Ryan Tannehill and the Titans offense took over on their own 24-yard line down by seven points. Led by Tannehill, the Titans drove 76 yards and finished it off with A.J. Brown making a contested catch in the corner of the end zone and getting his feet down. His 7-yard touchdown pushed the game into overtime.

The Titans won the toss and received the ball to start the overtime period. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith went back to Henry, who picked up 53 yards on a screen pass. Four plays later, Henry took the direct snap 5 yards into the end zone for a touchdown to end the game.

Henry finished with 212 yards rushing and 52 yards receiving, becoming the the fourth player in NFL history to rush for at least 200 yards in back-to-back games against a single opponent. Henry also had a 94-yard TD run.

Coach Mike Vrabel said he has never seen a player as big and fast as Henry with the football in his hands. But, the thing that he loved the most about Henry’s 94-yard touchdown run was how he used the stiff arm.

“The stiff arm is something that we had been working on with him,” Vrabel said. “People come at his legs. He’s taking his hand down there to the helmet that’s coming at his knee. He’s able to fend them off then have the speed to pull away from DBs.”

With his career-high 264 yards from scrimmage, Henry joins Saquon Barkley (2019 Week 16 vs Washington) as the only players with 250 scrimmage yards and two TD in a game in the last three seasons.

Henry also passed Eddie George for the third-most rushing touchdowns by a Titans/Oilers player in their first five seasons. Henry is now tied with Chris Johnson with 44 rushing touchdowns over that span.

Troubling trend: The Titans’ defense continued to struggle to get off the field on third downs. Houston converted on 7 of their 14 third-down opportunities starting on their first drive when they moved the chains on third-and-12.

Bold prediction for next week: The Titans struggled with Houston’s pass rush in the second half. Tannehill was sacked twice, including a strip/sack by J.J. Watt that led to a Texans’ touchdown. Next week will be a big-time test against the Steelers who blitz more than any other team in the NFL. That test will be even bigger if they don’t have left tackle Taylor Lewan who left the game in the third quarter.

Eye-popping NextGen stat: At 6-foot-3, 247 pounds, Henry was clocked at 21.6 mph on his 94-yard touchdown run.